BiOfted.  Lib 
D 


181 
T790. 
1888 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

TO    THE 

EIGHTH   LECTURE   COURSE 

AT    THE 

ALBANY 

COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY, 

DELIVERED  ' 

WILLIS  G.  TUCKER,  M.  D.,  PH.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHEMISTRY. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  CLASS. 


ALBANY,    N.   Y. 
1888. 


THE 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

TO    THE 

EIGHTH    LECTURE   COURSE 

AT    THE 

ALBANY 

COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY, 


DELIVERED  OCTOBER  i,   1888, 


WILLIS  G.  TUCKER,   M.  D.,  PH.  D. 


PROFESSOR  OF  CHEMISTRY. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  CLASS. 


ALBANY,    N.   Y. 
1888 


Q 


T71X, 

ADDRESS. 


GENTLEMEN  : 

Standing  in  this  place  this  evening,  to  fulfill  the  same 
pleasant  duty  which  twice  before  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  the  feel- 
ing of  embarrassment  which  I  might  otherwise  experience  is 
lessened  by  the  recollection  that  of  those  now  gathered  here 
scarce  any  w«re  present  on  the  former  occasions.  What  there- 
fore seems  to  me  like  repetition,  the  place,  the  occasion,  and 
some  things  that  I  must  necessarily  say  being  the  same,  will 
have  for  most  of  you  a  certain  novelty  at  least,  and  this  thought 
reassures  and  reconciles  me  to  the  position  in  which  I  am 
placed.  And  aside  from  this  sole  consideration,  the  duty  as- 
signed me  is  a  very  pleasant  one.  To  welcome  back  our  old  stu- 
dents ;  cordially  to  greet  those  who  for  the  first  time  are  as- 
sembled here,  and  to  address  to  you  some  words  of  counsel, 
and  some  general  considerations  concerning  the  work  in  which 
we  are  all,  in  one  way  or  another,  engaged,  is  indeed  a  grateful 
task,  and  free  from  any  elements  but  the  pleasantest.  Most 
gladly,  therefore,  do  I,  as  a  representative  of  the  faculty,  wel- 
come you  to  the  Albany  College  of  Pharmacy.  You  are  here 
with  a  common  purpose,  and  as  workers  in  the  same  field  have 
the  same  end  in  view.  Your  object,  if  I  understand  it  aright,  is 
to  supplement  the  knowledge  you  have  acquired  in  your  calling 
pursued  as  an  art,  by  a  course  of  study  in  which  general  princi- 
ples occupy  the  first  and  most  important  place.  You  desire  to 
broaden  your  knowledge  by  basing  it  upon  a  firmer  foundation. 
The  scientific  or  theoretical  side  of  pharmacy  as  distinguished 
from  its  practice  is  mainly  to  engage  your  attention.  Facts 
are  to  be  acquired,  but  principles  are  to  occupy  an  important 
place  henceforth  in  your  work. 

Every  natural  change  which  takes  place  has  an  antecedent 
cause,  and  the  scientific  worker  seeks  to  distinguish  these  causes, 
and  from  them  to  develope  general  principles  and  laws.  With- 
out a  knowledge  of  these  laws  and  an  understanding  of  the 

706060 


relations  of  different  classes  of  facts  and  their  bearing  upon 
each  other,  and  without  an  orderly  arrangement  or  classification 
of  the  whole,  there  is  no  science.  A  lack  of  this  knowledge 
distinguishes  the  artisan  from  the  scientist,  and  an  appreciation 
of  this  distinction  is  essential  to  those  who  desire  to  become 
proficient  in  any  branch  of  science.  You  are  here  chiefly  to 
pursue  your  studies  from  this  scientific  side,  and  with  some  of 
vou  it  will  be  but  a  beginning  and  with  others  the  continuation 
of  a  course  which,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  can  never  be 
completed.  The  domain  of  the  unknown  is,  to  the  wisest,  so 
vast,  and  of  the  known,  to  most  of  us,  so  small  that  although  we 
are  never  to  be  discouraged  by  the  extent  of  the  former,  and 
thus  tempted  to  neglect  the  opportunities  presented  to  us  for 
extending  the  latter,  it  nevertheless  behooves  us  to  place  a 
modest  estimate  upon  our  powers,  and  not  to  be  discouraged  if 
in  our  eagerness  and  haste  we  fail  to  reach  the  goal  that  our  too 
enthusiastic  fancy  may  have  set  before  us. 

Knowledge  is  acquired  chiefly  in  two  ways.  From  the  first 
dawning  of  intelligence  the  child  gains  his  by  observation  and 
experiment,  and  this  we  may  call  the  experimental  method. 
Didactic  instruction  has  no  place  in  the  education  of  the  young 
child  who  acquires  his  knowledge  by  the  exercise  of  his  own 
faculties  and  through  the  sensations,  directly  conveyed  to  his 
mind,  which  he  experiences.  Gradually  the  child  comes  under 
the  care  of  tutors  and  governors,  and  by  too  many  educators  a 
systematic  course  of  teaching  by  means  of  books  and  verbal 
precepts  is  substituted,  early  in  life,  for  a  more  natural  and  ra- 
tional method.  The  child  is  required  to  reason  at  an  age  when 
the  reasoning  faculties  naturally  lie,  and  should  be  allowed  to 
lie,  dormant,  and  the  quick  perceptions,  ready  intuitions,  natural 
observations  and  retentive  memory  of  the  young  pupil  are 
neither  trained  as  they  should  be  nor  directed  in  any  useful 
channel.  Rousseau  perceived  this  most  clearly  more  than  a 
century  ago,  and  in  his  "Emile,"  a  book  of  great  originality, 
abounding  in  good  sense  and  deep  insight,  though  mixed  with 
much  that  is  exaggerated  and  meretricious,  he  depicts  with 
great  force  the  evils  resulting  from  the  then  universal  methods 
of  instruction,  and  shows  us  in  the  person  of  Emile  how  he 
would  have  a  child  educated.  Nothing  is  to  be  taken  on  faith  ; 
the  pupil  is  to  be  told  nothing  that  he  can  discover  for  himself; 
he  is  to  accept  nothing  as  truth  on  the  mere  say-so  of  another 


if  he  can  make  the  demonstration  for  himself  ;  his  faculties  are 
to  be  trained  and  developed,  not  forced — in  other  words,  there 
is  to  be  no  cramming.  Disgusted  with  the  pedantry  of  the  in- 
structors of  his  day,  and  enthusiastically  advocating  a  more  ra- 
tional method,  Rousseau  was  an  extremist,  and  his  theories  are 
often  impracticable,  and  his  views  one-sided  and  exaggerated, 
but  though  his  book  was  fiercely  attacked  and  bitterly  de- 
nounced, it  contained  too  much  of  truth  to  be  borne  down  by 
mere  invective,  and  its  effect  was  far-reaching,  and  has  lasted 
long.  Much  that  his  Emile  contains,  which  raised  a  violent  op- 
position when  it  first  appeared  because  so  new  and  so  radically 
different  from  received  ideas,  seems  to  us  to-day  quite  common- 
place, because  so  evidently  true  and  so  generally  accepted. 
Basedow,  and  Pestalozzi,  and  Froebel,  were  followers  of  Rous- 
seau, and  their  writings  gained  for  those  of  their  predecessor  a 
wider  audience  than  otherwise  they  would  probably  have  se- 
cured. To  them  chiefly  we  owe  our  Kindergarten  systems  and 
object-lesson  teaching,  and  Pestalozzi's  romance  of  Leonard  and 
Gertrude  may  be  read  with  great  profit  by  educators  to-day. 
The  good  that  these  deep-thinkers  and  clear-seers  have  done, 
and  the  effect  of  their  work  upon  educational  methods  at  home 
and  abroad,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Herbert  Spencer,  in 
his  admirable  essays  upon  education,  re-states  and  emphasizes 
much  for  which  they  labored  to  secure  a  hearing  more  than  a 
century  ago,  and  the  effect  of  their  teaching  is  seen  in  the  meth- 
ods now  pursued  in  our  schools  for  the  young,  and  in  a  scarcely 
less  degree  in  our  higher  institutions.  The  general  introduction 
of  the  laboratory  method  of  instruction  in  our  academies  and 
colleges  shows  that  the  youth  of  to-day  are  no  longer  expected 
to  learn  from  books  and  lectures  alone,  but  are  taught  to  inves- 
tigate, to  prove  the  truth  of  fundamental  propositions,  and  to 
think  for  themselves  after  they  have  learned  to  reason.  Thus 
are  the  observing  and  reasoning  faculties  trained,  the  habit  of 
original  thought  developed,  creative  work  becomes  possible, 
and  original  investigation  a  not  uncommon  pursuit.  Doubtless 
when  we  survey  the  past,  we  are  ready  freely  to  admit  that 
"there  were  giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days."  The  Keplers 
and  Newtons,  the  Lavoisiers  and  Davys,  may  not  be  easily 
matched  if  we  call  the  roll  of  learned  men  to-day,  but  never- 
theless it  is  true  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  so  large  a 
number  of  the  community  were  so  well  educated,  and  so  well 


fitted  to  employ  the  machinery  of  modern  scientific  methods  as 
at  the  present  time.  The  chasm  formerly  existing  between  the 
educated  few  and  the  ignorant  masses,  is  no  longer  so  deep, 
while  the  few  have  become  the  many,  the  masses  having  been 
raised  from  their  blindness  and  ignorance  by  modern  educa- 
tional methods  and  modern  civilization. 

Now  the  other  method,  which  we  may  call  the  didactic,  dif- 
fers radically  from  the  experimental,  and  in  extolling  the  one, 
we  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  other,  rightly  used, 
has  been  and  must  ever  continue  to  be  of  the  greatest  service 
in  education,  and  that  we  cannot  separate  them  without  work- 
ing irreparable  injury.  But  it  was  the  mistake  of  the  older 
pedagogues  to  suppose  that  youthful  ardor  and  freedom  of 
thought  should  be  repressed,  and  a  blind  allegiance  to  authori- 
ty demanded.  In  many  countries  the  Church  and  the  Univer- 
sity were  one,  and  a  slavish  obedience  to  the  behests  of  the  for- 
mer, and  a  conservative  following  of  the  leaders  of  the  latter, 
were  alike  expected  and  demanded  of  those  who  sought  in- 
struction at  these  seats  of  learning.  We  cannot  now  pause  to 
trace  the  history  of  the  conflicts  thus  early  engendered  between 
religion  and  science,  nor  to  show  how  purely  dogmatic  was 
most  of  the  teaching  of  the  last  few  centuries,  but  despite  the 
bondage  in  which  thinkers  were  held,  there  appeared  from  time 
to  time  daring  innovators  who  pushed  their  inquiries  in  every 
direction,  and  though  their  books  were  burned,  and  they  them- 
selves often  forced  to  recant  for  fear  of  a  like  fate,  yet  the 
world  moved,  truth  survived,  and  knowledge  increased  among 
men.  And  is  it  not  a  painful  fact  to  contemplate,  that  after  all 
these  years,  much  of  this  blind  allegiance  to  authority  should 
still  remain  among  us,  exercising  as  it  does  an  influence  truly 
baneful  in  retarding  the  general  acceptance  of  evident  truths. 
Astronomy  has  long  since  demonstrated  that  the  earth  is  not 
the  center  of  the  universe  ;  geology  has  long  since  demonstra- 
ted that  the  earth  was  not  formed  and  fitted  for  man's  occupancy 
in  six  days'  time,  but  the  scarce  less  certain  truths  of  evolution 
are  combated  as  fiercely  by  certain  classes  in  our  midst  to-day 
as  when  they  were  first  promulgated.  Such  a  condition,  with 
its  many  attendant  evils,  results  from  a  too  dogmatic  teaching, 
and  any  system  of  education  which  fails  properly  to  combine 
these  two  methods  of  instruction,  of  which  we  have  been  speak- 
ing, is  one-sided  and  incomplete.  Rousseau,  in  the  work  to 


which  we  have  referred,  says,  speaking  of  the  pupil :  "  Let 
him  know  a  thing  because  he  has  found  it  out  for  himself,  and 
not  because  you  have  told  him  of  it.  Let  him  not  learn  science 
but  discover  it  for  himself.  If  once  you  substitute  authority 
for  reason,  he  will  not  reason  any  more  ;  he  will  only  be  the 
sport  of  other  people's  opinions."  There  is  sound  sense  here, 
but  the  idea  may  be  pushed  too  far,  as  in  saying  with  reference 
to  the  facts  of  physics  :  "  I  would  not  have  my  pupil  study 
them  in  a  laboratory  of  experimental  physics.  I  dislike  that 
array  of  machines  and  instruments.  The  parade  of  science  is 
fatal  to  science  itself.  There  are  many  excellent  labor-saving 
methods  of  studying  science,  but  we  are  in  sore  need  of  one  to 
teach  us  how  to  learn  them  with  more  effort  of  our  own.  So 
many  instruments  are  invented  to  aid  us  in  our  experiments, 
and  to  supplement  the  action  of  our  senses,  that  we  neglect  to 
use  the  senses  themselves.  If  we  surround  ourselves  with  in- 
struments, we  shall  no  longer  find  them  within  ourselves." 
These  are,  of  course,  extreme  views.  There  is  truth  here,  but 
his  condemnation  of  methods  which  may  be  abused,  is  much 
too  general  and  sweeping.  However  desirable  it  may  be  to  cul- 
tivate the  habit  of  close  observation,  experiment  with  self-de- 
vised apparatus,  and  deduction  of  principles  from  self-discover- 
ed facts, — and  no  one  can  for  a  moment  doubt  the  necessity  for 
training  of  this  sort, — yet  a  pupil  restricted  to  this  kind  of  per- 
sonal investigation  would  make  but  slow  progress,  and  unless 
possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  scarce  any  progress  at 
all.  We  must  accept  much  on  authority, — at  least,  in  certain 
departments  of  learning  this  can  safely  be  done, — and  unless 
we  make  free  use  of  the  facts  discovered  by  others,  our  advance 
will  indeed  be  small.  In  many  subjects  of  study  the  real  work 
begins  at  the  point  where  others  have  left  off,  and  the  student 
must  as  speedily  as  possible  acquaint  himself  with  all  that  has 
been  learned  in  his  particular  department,  and  make  use  of 
every  means  within  his  reach  to  acquire  this  knowledge  as 
speedily  and  as  easily  as  possible.  Hence  the  value  of  the  li- 
braries, collections,  and  mechanical  equipment  of  our  higher  in- 
stitutions, is  inestimable,  and  laboratory  instruction  in  all  de- 
partments of  science  is  to-day  regarded  as  absolutely  essential 
in  our  courses  of  instruction.  Says  a  recent  author,  speaking 
of  the  intellectual  methods  of  science,  and  what  is  said  applies 
with  equal  force  to  instruments  of  research, — "  Scientific  meth- 


8 

ods  bear  the  same  relation  to  intellectual  progress  that  tools, 
instruments,  machines,  and  mechanical  contrivances  of  all 
sorts,  bear  to  material  progress.  They  are  intellectual  contriv- 
ances, indirect  ways  of  accomplishing  results  far  too  hard  for 
bare-handed  unaided  intellectual  strength.  As  the  civilized 
man  has  little  or  no  advantage  over  the  savage  in  bare-handed 
strength  of  muscle,  and  the  enormous  superiority  of  the  former 
in  accomplishing  material  results  is  due  wholly  to  the  use  of 
mechanical  contrivances  or  machines,  even  so  in  the  higher 
sphere  of  intellect,  the  scientist  makes  no  pretension  to  the  pos- 
session of  greater  unaided  intellectual  strength  than  belongs  to 
the  the  uncultured  man,  or  perhaps  even  to  the  savage.  The 
amazing  intellectual  results  achieved  by  science  are  due  wholly 
to  the  use  of  intellectual  contrivances  or  scientific  methods.' 
The  student,  therefore,  cannot  afford  to  dispense  with  these 
aids.  He  cannot  investigate  every  question  from  the  outset 
himself.  If  he  would  accomplish  anything,  he  must  possess 
himself  of  the  accumulated  wisdom  of  those  who  have  preceded 
him  in  his  own  field,  and  he  must  bring  to  bear  in  his  work 
every  known  resource  by  which  he  may  increase  his  powers  and 
extend  his  sphere  of  operations.  The  longer  he  can  make  the 
working  arm  of  his  lever,  the  greater  advantage  will  he  derive. 
That  great  results  have  been  achieved  by  simple  means,  proves 
nothing  to  the  contrary,  and  he  who  would  advance  the  world's 
knowledge  to-day  has  need  to  use  every  aid  that  modern  inge- 
nuity can  give  him. 

If  then  we  inquire  what  should  be  the  nature  of  a  rational 
course  of  instruction,  shall  we  not  reply  that  it  must  be  one  in 
which  the  pupil  shall  be  taught  to  observe,  to  experiment,  and 
to  think  for  himself,  and  shall  be  encouraged  to  push  his  in- 
quiries without  check  in  any  direction,  and  that  to  the  end  that 
he  may  be  able  so  to  do,  it  shall  furnish  him  with  those  varied 
aids  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  serviceable  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  studies  and  the  extension  of  his  researches.  We 
must,  in  other  words,  combine  the  experimental  and  the  didac- 
tic. We  must  teach  many  matters  of  fact  with  authority,  but 
we  must  so  train  the  pupil  that  he  will  not  blindly  follow  the 
teacher,  but  shall  be  able  critically  to  examine  the  facts  pre- 
sented for  his  acceptance,  and  weigh  the  evidence  upon  which 
they  rest,  and  more  than  all  be  fitted  to  carry  forward  the  work 
which  others  have  begun. 


Now  lest  it  be  said  that  such  an  outline  applies  mainly  to 
a  course  of  scientific  instruction,  we  remark  that  the  methods 
which  are  applicable  and  to  be  recommended  in  such  a  course, 
are  in  the  main  those  which  may  be  followed  with  advantage  in 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in  any  direction.  Knowledge  is  ad- 
vancing along  many  different  lines,  but  the  greatest  progress  is 
after  all  being  made  in  the  study  of  nature.  The  physical  sci- 
ences during  the  last  half  century  have  been  developed  to  an 
extent  not  dreamed  of  in  the  past,  while  metaphysical  studies 
have  been  relegated  to  a  subordinate  place,  and  some  of  these 
studies  have  made  little  or  no  progress  during  the  centuries 
The  reason  is  not  hard  to  find.  We  have  learned  to  distinguish 
those  things  which  may  be  known  from  those  which  are,  from 
their  very  nature,  unknowable ;  that  which  may  be  proved 
from  that  which  is  always  in  dispute,  and  we  have  learned  to 
separate  those  collections  of  clearly  related  facts  which  may  be 
systematically  arranged,  and  from  which  general  principles  and 
laws  may  be  deduced  from  those  unwieldy  masses  of  half- 
truths  which  may  be  differently  viewed  from  any  standpoint, 
and  which  can  never  be  brought  together  in  compact  form,  or 
scientifically  treated.  Underlying  the  physical  sciences  is  a 
substratum  of  facts  from  which  we  derive  laws,  but  in  most  of 
those  studies  which  are  commonly  classed  under  metaphysics 
using  the  term  in  its  broadest  sense,  we  find  no  corresponding 
basis  of  universally  accepted  truths,  and  as  the  workers  in  such 
branches  are  seldom  agreed  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  very  terms 
which  they  employ,  exact  discussion  becomes  well-nigh  impossi- 
ble. Take  theology,  for  instance.  I  speak  not  of  practical  re- 
ligion, but  of  the  science  so  called,  and  what  do  we  find  but 
that  the  theologians  are  each  from  his  own  standpoint,  and 
with  all  the  bias  which  inherited  beliefs  or  irrationally  adopted 
creeds  give,  discussing  fundamental  propositions  which  have 
been  argued  for  centuries,  and  concerning  which  scarce  two  dis- 
putants are  in  accord.  Nothing  is  farther  from  my  purpose 
than  to  speak  slightingly  of  religious  beliefs  which  have  in  one 
form  or  another  been  held  by  all  nations  and  at  all  times, — be- 
liefs that  have  influenced  the  life  and  made  for  righteousness, — 
for  I  refer  alone  to  theology  as  treated  in  the  schools,  where  ar- 
guments are  based  on  propositions  incapable  of  proof,  and  terms 
to  which  no  fixed  meaning  can  be  assigned  are  used  as  if  capa- 
ble of  logical  employment  and  with  scientific  precision.  The 


10 

result  has  ever  been  the  same, — no  agreement,  but  ever  widen- 
ing diversity  ;  fierce  onslaught  and  bitter  rejoinder.  When  will 
those  who  thus  dispute  learn  to  distinguish  between  those  fields 
in  which  scientific  methods  may  be  employed,  and  those  wide 
domains  in  which,  while  room  exists  for  speculation,  dogmatism 
should  have  no  place.  So  many  things  in  these  days  force 
themselves  upon  our  attention,  that  we  shall  do  well  so  to  train 
our  faculties  that  we  may  see  clearly  the  difference  between 
those  which  will  repay  investigation,  and  those  which  give  no 
promise  of  reward.  But  we  too  often  credulously  accept  what- 
ever is  put  forth  with  a  show  of  learning,  no  matter  how 
sophistical  the  arguments,  nor  how  false  the  premises  on  which 
it  is  based.  We  have  no  need  to  go  back  to  the  idle  specula- 
tions of  past  ages  for  illustrations.  Look  around,  and  you  may 
find  on  every  hand  dupes  of  mere  charlatans  by  the  score,  and 
believers  in  every  kind  of  humbuggery,  and  these  often  among 
people  otherwise  of  fair  intelligence,  and  neither  illiterate  nor 
inexperienced  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  Some  of  the 
isms  which  have  recently  been  urged  and  discussed,  count 
among  their  votaries  men  and  women  occupying  high  places  in 
society,  in  the  church  and  in  the  state,  and  the  explanation  of 
a  fact,  otherwise  so  surprising  and  so  discouraging,  is  that  these 
people  have  neither  a  real  love  for  truth,  nor  knowledge  of  the 
way  by  which  truth  may  be  discovered.  They  accept  with 
equal  readiness  guides  true  and  false  ;  they  have  not  learned  to 
weigh  evidence  for  themselves,  nor  to  distinguish  between  the 
blatant  claims  of  charlatans  and  established  facts  ;  they  fail  to 
see  that  in  their  very  essence  some  things  are  absurd,  incapable 
of  proof,  or  unworthy  of  investigation.  In  other  words,  their 
credulity  results  not  so  much  from  a  lack  of  intelligence  as  from 
a  faulty  education,  and  especially  from  a  want  of  scientific  train- 
ing, and  I  have  thought  that  it  might  be  profitable  for  us  briefly 
to  consider  this  evening  some  of  the  methods  of  science,  since 
these  have  been  of  such  service  to  mankind  in  the  search  for 
truth.  They  are  capable  of  wide  application,  and  their  practice 
tends  to  clear  thinking  and  good  workmanship  ;  and  surely  the 
ability  to  think  clearly  and  to  work  well  is  worth  cultivating  in 
any  calling.  Especial  reference  will  be  made  to  the  methods 
employed  in  the  study  of  the  physical  sciences,  and  it  will  be 
my  endeavor  to  point  out  some  of  the  characteristics  of  good 


11 

scientific  work,  and   to  exhibit    something   of  the  spirit  which 
instigates  and  controls  the  scientific  worker. 

And  first,  all  truly  scientific  work  aims  at  exactitude.  The 
great  majority  of  people  are  hopelessly  inexact.  It  is  true  that 
in  dealing  with  dollars  and  cents,  business  men,  and  indeed 
most  men,  are  precise  in  their  reckonings,  but  in  a  thousand 
and  one  other  things  they  are  careless  as  to  matters  of  fact. 
If  we  look  carefully  at  this  matter,  we  shall  find  that  many  of 
the  annoyances  of  life  come  from  a  carelessness  in  this  respect 
— a  want  of  accuracy.  The  habit  has  not  been  cultivated.  Now 
workers  in  any  scientific  field  know  full  well  the  necessity  for 
preciseness.  Terms  must  be  correctly  used  ;  observations  must 
be  made  with  precision,  and  facts  must  be  truly  stated.  Look 
at  the  scientific  papers  in  a  journal  or  volume  of  transactions 
which  publishes  the  result  of  original  investigations,  and  ob- 
serve how  concise  the  language,  how  precise  the  statements. 
There  is  no  diffuseness  in  the  style,  no  approximations  nor 
guess-work  where  exact  statement  is  possible.  Accuracy  as  a 
habit  is  opposed  to  all  slovenliness,  and  to  all  hap-hazard  meth- 
ods of  statement  and  of  work.  Young  men  before  entering 
upon  other  business  pursuits  are  often  placed  in  banks  that  they 
may  learn  with  what  rigid  exactness  money  is  handled  and  ac- 
counts are  kept,  and  with  a  view  to  a  similar  kind  of  training 
in  another  direction,  I  would  have  students  who  propose  follow- 
ing professions  make  thorough  study  of  some  one  of  the  natu- 
ral sciences,  acquiring  in  the  laboratory,  museum  or  work-room 
the  habit  of  exact  observation  and  precise  measurement  and 
statement  in  such  way  that  it  will  stick  to  them  for  life.  And 
surely  there  is  no  calling  in  which  this  habit  is  more  essential 
than  in  that  in  which  you  are  engaged.  Study  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia,  and  observe  the  preciseness  of  statement 
throughout,  and  yet  in  the  following  of  its  explicit  directions 
how  many  mistakes  are  made.  A  single  illustration  will  suffice. 
I  have  recently  examined  a  large  number  of  samples  of  diluted 
acetic  acid  procured  from  retail  drug  stores  in  different  parts  of 
this  State.  It  is  not  a  very  important  preparation,  perhaps,  but 
It  is  a  very  simple  one,  and  easily  made,  according  to  the  direc- 
tions of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  by  dilution  of  the  stronger  acid, 
and  yet  of  these  samples  not  one  quarter  were  properly  made, 
the  remainder  varying  from  a  third  to  five  times  the  proper 
strength.  In  the  preparation  of  such  an  article,  absolute  pre- 


12 

cision  is  not  required,  though  there  should  be  a  fair  degree  of 
accuracy,  but  of  these  samples  many  were  evidently  "made 
by  guess."  The  pharmacist  who  has  learned  to  work  with 
measuring  flask  and  burette,  with  hydrometer  and  chemical 
balance,  will  never  guess  at  a  thing,  but  where  measurements 
are  demanded  he  will  make  them  with  care,  and  in  general* 
where  there  are  two  ways  of  doing  a  thing,  he  will  instinctively 
choose  the  right  one,  and  such  work  may  be  depended  upon. 
Pharmacopoeial  terms,  and  pharmaceutical  terms  generally,  he 
will  use  correctly,  and  he  will  deem  it  of  more  importance  to 
be  right  than  to  be  rapid  in  his  work.  If  young  men  knew  how 
highly  this  habit  of  accuracy,  which  is  really  but  another  name 
for  truthfulness,  was  valued,  they  would  cultivate  it  more, 
prompted  by  self-interest,  if  by  no  higher  motive. 

And  next,  science  is  painstaking.  Real  truth  being  sought, 
the  surest  way  by  which  it  may  be  discovered  is  followed,  and 
not  the  easiest.  The  work  in  hand  is  well  considered,  and  from 
all  points  of  view  ;  difficulties  are  recognized  and  not  put  out  of 
sight  ;  methods  are  weighed  and  the  best  selected,  and  after 
this  deliberate  preparation  the  real  work  begins.  That  "  haste 
makes  waste  "  no  man  recognizes  more  clearly  than  the  scien- 
tist, and  in  the  hope  of  accomplishing  much  he  is  willing,  not 
to  risk  much,  but  to  do  much.  He  does  not  turn  aside  from  the 
main  road  in  the  hope  of  luckily  discovering  some  short  cut, 
but  is  content  with  slow  steps  and  short  stages  if  so  it  be  that 
he  is  advancing.  He  does  not  expect  great  results  from  small 
expenditures,  but  knows  that  time,  energy,  painstaking  care 
must  be  bestowed  upon  work  which  is  to  be  valuable  and  lasting. 
This  is  the  scientific  method,  and  from  it  we  may  learn  a  lesson. 
The  big  oak  grows  from  the  little  acc.rn,  but  the  acorn  repre- 
sents the  fruitage  of  a  preceding  oak  which  had  its  beginnings 
in  the  distant  ages  of  the  past.  Great  results  may  succeed 
small  events,  though  they  have  not  been  caused  by  them 
Good  work  goes  into  honest  goods,  and  if  we  are  to  accomplish 
much  we  must  do  much. 

But  this  painstaking  labor  is  repugnant  to  most  men.  They 
are  unwilling  to  labor,  and  must  have  quick  results.  They  have 
need,  perhaps,  to  study  some  subject,  and  they  skim  the  mere 
cream  of  it.  They  are  ignorant,  and  ask  for  information,  and 
before  the  explanation  is  given  they  have  ceased  to  listen. 
Their  attention  is  not  concentrated  upon  the  matter  under  con- 


13 

sideration.  "Inattention  to  the  present  business,  be  it  what  it 
will,"  said  Lord  Chesterfield,  "  is  the  never-failing  sign  of  a 
little,  frivolous  mind."  And  this  shiftlessness,  so  characteristic 
of  many  men,  is  the  result  of  habitually  dealing  with  the  sur- 
face only  of  things  through  unwillingness  to  dig  patiently  down 
to  the  roots  of  them.  Such  go  from  subject  to  subject,  and,  in 
the  zeal  for  novelty,  lose  the  relish  for  wholesome  knowledge. 

And  what  has  been  said  necessarily  implies  that  scientific 
work  is  laborious  work.  Foundations  are  laid  deep  and  great 
preparations  are  made  for  great  work.  Read  the  lives  of 
Cuvier,  of  Agassiz,  of  Darwin,  and  you  will  learn  what  dili- 
gence is.  In  their  works  you  will  find  the  results  of  hundreds 
of  laboriously  conducted  observations  summed  up  in  paragraphs. 
Such  men  have  never  shrunk  from  labor,  for  it  has  been  to  them 
a  necessity  and  become  a  pleasure.  The  habit  of  systematic 
work  developes  a  love  for  labor,  and  as  we  observe  the  fruits  of 
our  planting  we  view  them  without  a  thought  of  regret  for  the 
toil  expended  in  the  preparation  of  the  ground,  the  sowing  and 
the  tending,  though  done  in  the  sweat  of  our  brows. 

And  this  painstaking  labor  which  distinguishes  scientific 
work  is  marked  by  a  patience  no  less  characteristic.  The 
worker  does  not  look  for  quick  returns,  but  patiently  awaits 
the  issue  ;  and  so  must  we  all,  the  student  and  the  professional 
man,  the  artisan  and  the  artist, — each  must  work  patiently  and 
thoughtfully,  content  if  in  due  season  he  achieves  the  result 
which  long  ago  he  planned.  And  if  we  read  biography  aright 
we  shall  learn  that  the  men  of  great  deeds  in  every  age  have  in 
patience  possessed  their  souls.  Learn  then  to  look,  not  for 
quick  results  and  great,  but  to  labor  hopefully,  patiently,  know- 
ing that  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not. 

And  again,  the  truly  scientific  worker  is  governed  by  a 
judicial  spirit.  He  is  accustomed  to  weigh  evidence  and  strives 
to  consider  all  questions  impartially.  He  holds  his  judgment 
in  abeyance,  avoids  unwarranted  conclusions  and  hasty  gener- 
alizations. Mere  authority  has  little  weight  with  him  upon 
matters  concerning  which  he  is  competent  to  form  an  opinion, 
and  before  he  accepts  new  ideas  he  familiarizes  himself  with 
the  evidence  alleged  in  their  support,  recognizing  the  fact  that 
there  are  two  sides  to  almost  every  question,  and  that  a  con- 
clusion can  seldom  be  reached  till  both  have  been  considered. 
He  is  therefore  always  open  to  conviction,  and  never  ashamed 


14 

to  acknowledge  himself  in  the  wrong  when  shown  that  he  is  in 
error.  To  support  a  theory  he  will  neither  close  his  eyes  to 
obvious  facts  nor  persist  in  maintaining  untenable  positions. 
Those  paper  philosophers,  as  they  have  been  called,  who  spend 
their  lives  reviewing  other  men's  work  and  criticising  that  which 
they  are  unable  rightly  to  comprehend,  have  no  appreciation 
whatever  of  the  methods  of  science.  Such  men  abound.  We 
find  them  on  the  lecture  platform  and  in  the  pulpit,  and  their 
effusions  occupy  much  space  in  the  magazines  and  reviews. 
While  the  real  scientist  is  often  willing  to  say,  "  I  do  not  know," 
"  It  is  out  of  my  line,"  "  I  am  not  an  authority,"  these  superfi- 
cial essayists  and  shallow  critics  are  ever  ready  to  render  de- 
cisions and  pass  their  judgment  upon  the  weightiest  matters. 
But  too  often  these  ingenious  partisans,  with  their  specious 
arguments  and  fallacious  reasonings,  their  rhetorical  vaporings 
and  heated  arguments,  carry  the  multitude  along  with  them. 
As  an  illustration,  we  have  only  to  recall  the  bitter  denuncia- 
tion heaped  upon  Darwin  and  the  ridicule  to  which  he  was  sub- 
jected a  few  years  back,  and  how  often  do  we  hear  Huxley  and 
Tyndall  and  Herbert  Spencer  disposed  of  by  those  who  have 
scarce  read  their  writings,  and,  if  they  had,  would  be  quite  in- 
competent to  form  an  opinion  upon  them.  Many  of  these 
critics  of  other  men's  performances  are  ever  ready  to  declare  to 
us  the  intentions  of  the  Almighty,  and  to  denounce  as  heretical 
or  impious  that  which,  in  their  view,  is  inconsistent  with  what 
they  declare  to  be  His  plans.  True  science  is  not  thus  arrogant 
nor  dictatorial.  It  is  honest,  even  in  its  doubts.  To  persist  in 
viewing  a  subject  from  one  side  alone,  and  to  close  the  eyes 
to  demonstrated  truths  is  as  dishonest  as  it  is  illogical  and 
absurd. 

And  another  characteristic  of  real  scientific  work  is  that  it 
is  not  inspired  by  a  desire  for  gain  ;  it  does  not  seek  pecuniary 
reward.  I  anticipate  your  probable  criticism.  All  honorable 
work  deserves  compensation,  you  will  say  ;  surely  the  laborer 
is  worthy  of  his  hire  ;  wealth  honestly  amassed,  and  worthily 
employed  is  not  to  be  despised.  Very  true,  and  yet  the  fact  re 
mains  that  the  best  work  is  not  undertaken  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  a  direct  pecuniary  return.  At  all  events,  the 
best  scientific  work  is  not  so  entered  upon.  There  lies  at  the 
root  of  it  all  the  desire  to  discover  facts,  to  advance  knowl- 
edge, and  in  the  search  for  verities  the  earnest  worker  is  indif- 


15 

ferent  to  their  practical  value  or  worth  in  dollars  and  cents. 
The  benefits  which  the  world  has  received  from  the  discoveries 
of  science  are  inestimable,  but  very  seldom  has  it  happened 
that  the  discoverers  has  been  directly  rewarded.  A  class  of 
middlemen  exists,  a  kind  of  rear-guard  of  science,  ever  on  the 
alert  to  seize  upon  those  ideas  which  can  be  turned  to  practical 
account  and  made  to  pay,  and  this  class,  often  very  enterprising 
and  useful  to  society,  secures  the  profit  and  often  much  of  the 
credit  of  discovery  as  well.  I  do  not  desire  to  hold  up  to  your 
view  the  great  names  upon  the  roll  of  fame  of  those  who  have 
labored  in  poverty,  often  neglected  or  dispised,  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  our  knowledge,  for  there  would  be  little  in  the  recital 
to  encourage  or  to  incite  us  to  like  exertions,  but  I  do  desire  to 
impress  the  fact  that  unless  the  work  we  do  is  inspired  by  other 
and  higher  motives  than  a  mere  desire  for  gain,  we  shall 
never  develope  our  best  powers  or  exercise  the  noblest  faculties 
of  our  minds.  If  the  question  with  us  ever  is,  "Will  it  pay  ?" 
and  if  we  reject  all  toil  as  drudgery  which  does  not  promise 
quick  reward,  we  shall  assuredly  do  much  that  is  trivial,  per- 
haps something  that  is  base,  and  shall  probably  leave  undone 
work  that  might  have  led  to  higher  things  and  had  a  real  value. 
And  the  last  characteristic  of  real  scientific  work  of  which  I 
shall  speak  is  that  it  is  conceived  in  enthusiasm  and  executed  in 
hopefulness.  Unless  the  laborer  in  this  vineyard  is  possessed 
by  a  real  zeal,  his  measure  of  success  will  be  small.  His  should 
be,  not  the  too  sanguine  visionary  expectancy  prompting  to  a 
belief  in  the  miraculous  and  imbued  with  credulity,  but  an 
hopeful  enthusiasm  which  will  not  be  dismayed  by  the  ob- 
stacles it  must  necessarily  encounter,  and  ever  prompts  to  per- 
sistent effort  and  unremitting  toil.  Real  science  is,  while  pa- 
tient, hopeful,  not  over-sanguine  but  confident.  And  are  not 
these  the  qualities  which  workers  in  any  field  must  possess,  if  suc- 
cess is  to  be  looked  for  ?  If  work  is  to  be  to  us  more  than  a  mere 
means  for  supplying  our  daily  necessities  ;  if  it  is  to  develope 
the  workman's  powers  and  raise  him  above  the  mere  routinist's 
level,  the  daily  toil,  however  humble  it  may  be,  must  be  under- 
taken with  confidence  and  pursued  with  a  real  ardor.  The  man 
who  sets  not  before  him  some  high  standard,  who  looks  not  for- 
ward to  some  ideal  condition  to  which  he  strives  to  attain,  who 
does  not  long  to  rise,  but  is  content  merely  to  exist,  has  caught 
no  glimpse  of  the  possibilities  of  life.  Men  talk  of  talents  and 


16 

opportunities,  of  advantageous  positions  and  lucky  chances  in 
life,  but  after  all  life  is  to  each  of  us  very  much  what  we  choose 
to  make  it,  and  the  fact  that  few  attain  to  positions  of  com- 
manding eminence  or  achieve  extraordinary  results,  affords  no 
excuse  for  half-hearted  labor,  or  listless  indifference  to  the  vast 
interests  of  life,  for  if  we  take  a  large  view  of  its  possibilities 
and  of  the  returns  which  labor  brings,  we  shall  at  least  have 
started  aright, — success  lies  in  that  direction.  Says  Lowell, 
"  Life  is  a  sheet  of  paper,  white, 

Whereon  each  one  of  us  may  write  - 

His  word  or  two,  and  then  comes  night. 

Greatly  begin  !  though  thou  have  time 

But  for  a  line,  be  that  sublime — 

Not  failure,  but  low  aim  is  crime." 

These  then  are  some  of  the  methods  of  science,  some  of  the 
characteristics  of  scientific  work.  In  considering  them,  my  de- 
sire has  been  to  exhibit  something  of  the  spirit  which  instigates 
and  directs  such  work  ;  to  show  the  value  of  scientific  training 
in  the  conduct  of  our  daily  affairs,  be  they  what  they  may,  and 
the  consequent  advantages  which  result  from  giving  to  the  study 
of  science  a  prominent  place  in  our  educational  systems.  For, 
surely,  if  exactitude  or  a  love  for  truth  ;  painstaking,  patient 
labor,  actuated  by  higher  motives  than  a  mere  desire  for  gain  ; 
a  spirit  of  judicial  fairness,  and  a  hopeful  enthusiasm,  are  habits 
or  qualities  of  mind  which  it  is  desirable  to  cultivate,  then  the 
study  of  some  branch  or  branches  of  science,  rightly  pursued,  is 
capable  of  yielding  the  most  valuable  results,  and  developing 
the  best  and  highest  powers  of  the  mind,  fitting  it  to  deal  with 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  daily  life,  or  to  grapple  with  the  deep- 
est problems  which  engage  the  attention  of  mankind.  In  the 
hints  which  I  have  given  you  there  is,  I  am  well  aware,  nothing 
that  is  new,  nothing  original.  "All  truly  wise  thoughts,"  says 
Goethe,  "  have  been  thought  already  thousands  of  times,  but  to 
make  them  truly  ours  we  must  think  them  over  again  honestly, 
till  they  take  root  in  our  personal  experience."  To  see  truths 
clearly,  does  not  suffice.  We  must  live  them,  make  them  our 
own,  be  governed  by  them,  and  only  when  we  thus  do,  are  our 
lives  ordered  aright. 

Allow  me,  in  conclusion,  again  to  extend  to  you  all,  on  behalf 
of  the  trustees  and  faculty  of  this  school,  a  hearty  welcome. 
We  earnestly  hope  that  the  coming  session  may  be  a  profitable 


17 

one  to  every  member  of  the  class,  and  that  at  its  close  you  may 
be  able  with  satisfaction  to  look  back  at  the  course  you  have 
pursued,  feeling  that  your  time  has  been  well  spent,  that  true 
progress  has  been  made,  that  no  opportunities  for  self-improve- 
ment have  been  neglected.  For  individual  gain  must  always  be 
by  the  voluntary  improvement  of  self.  Teachers  are  of  no 
avail,  institutions  are  powerless,  educational  facilities  are  of  no 
service,  unless  there  is  within,  the  ambition  and  the  determina- 
tion which  stimulates  to  continued  effort.  Unless  a  man  real- 
izes in  the  truest  sense  that  to  raise  himself  is  as  much  within 
his  power  as  to  debase  himself,  to  correct  existing  faults  as  easy 
as  to  acquire  new  ones,  and  that  to  develope  and  strengthen 
character  lies  as  clearly  within  the  range  of  his  abilities  as  does 
the  volitional  abandonment  of  high  principles,  and  the  giving 
way  to  those  impulses  which  spring  from  the  lower  nature,  ever 
to  be  subdued,  he  will  never  rightly  begin  to  live,  nor  achieve 
that  true  success  which  is  within  his  grasp.  We  must  have 
high  ideals  and  lofty  standards,  but  no  mere  exercise  of  the 
emotions,  resulting  in  spasmodic  effort,  exhausting  itself  and 
speedily  relaxed,  can  take  the  place  of  that  indwelling  con- 
sciousness of  power  to  govern  ourselves,  and  that  confidence  in 
self  which,  lying  deep  within  the  heart,  prompt  to  action  and 
are  the  inspiration  of  life.  "  There  is  none  of  the  social 
goods,"  says  Emerson,  "that  may  not  be  purchased  too  dear,  and 
mere  amiableness  must  not  take  rank  with  high  aims  and  self- 
subsistency."  Self-confidence  begets  great  undertakings  and 
carries  them  to  a  successful  termination.  Without  it  we  are  at 
the  mercy  of  the  world,  discouraged  by  failure  when  we  should 
be  borne  upward  by  hope.  Strive  then  to  strengthen  this  confi- 
dence, which  perhaps  in  no  way  can  so  surely  be  done  as  by  ac- 
cepting fearlessly  the  responsibilities  which  we  may  be  called 
upon  to  assume.  Excessive  physical  strength  comes  often  with 
the  need  for  its  exercise,  and  still  more  certainly  will  the  m-an 
willing  to  rise  with  the  emergency  find  himself  endowed  with 
power  to  perform  the  task  put  upon  him.  "  Act  well  at  the 
moment,"  says  Lavater,  "  and  you  have  performed  a  good  ac- 
tion to  all  eternity."  By  timidly  holding  aloof  from  the  present 
duty  we  may  miss  the  golden  opportunity,  but  by  courageously 
putting  our  shoulder  to  the  wheel  when  we  are  called  upon  to 
labor  we  strengthen  ourselves  for  future  exertion  and  achieve 


18 

the  real  successes  of  life.  "There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune,"  but  the  occasion 
neglected  may  never  return.  Accustom  yourselves  then  to  per- 
form the  duties  and  meet  the  obligations  of  life  manfully  and 
with  confidence,  and  when  the  critical  moment  comes — the 
time  when  upon  the  decision  you  make  much  may  depend  — 
you  will  not  be  found  wanting. 


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